Sunday, June 02, 2013

Look What the Rain Brought

On Saturday morning, we were out on the patio by about 6am. We had both cameras, waiting for the fox to come back.

I quickly realized my big zoom was too much for the fox, should he come, so I made some adjustments. Too many cameras, too many lenses. :)

We had put the birdfeeder inside the truck overnight to avoid attracting the fox to the campground, where he really shouldn’t be. We love seeing him, but don’t want him getting too tame and expecting food. He needs to have a fear of man.

We sat there quite a while without seeing the fox, but we did have a few other of our friends.

A family of Sand Cranes flew right over.

A Tufted Titmouse, who apparently was just dropping a mighty big peanut seed.

Sharing with a friend.

We decided to walk down to where the otters hang out and see if they were around.

No otters, but we did see this Yellow Crowned Night Heron.

After a beautiful morning, a slow moving front came through, bringing a ton of rain. Fortunately, it wasn’t windy or severe, but I did hear of two nearby houses getting struck by lightning. Not real comforting since we live in a motor home!

This morning, we were up and outside early again and again we were rewarded for our efforts.

This next picture is our view from out patio. The brown reeds you see in the middle of the photo, are cat tail reeds that are growing in the drainage area behind us. Before yesterday, it was dry directly behind us. Today we have water and actually saw an otter swimming right behind the rig. No decent pictures though.

The sound from the frogs was almost deafening. I kept wanting the remote control to turn them down!

I saw a small Red Shouldered Hawk on the bank on the other side of the pond. He was hopping around in the grass chasing his breakfast.

I know how nature works, but I don’t like to see it.

When he flew up to the sign, I saw that it was a frog. Poor little frog.

Mockingbirds hate hawks and crows because they steal their babies.

This Mockingbird was dive bombing the hawk as he ate his breakfast. I was afraid I would zoom in and find the hawk had a baby Mockingbird. I was relieved it was a frog, but I’m sure the frog didn’t feel the same way.

Like, I said. We have a lot of frogs. This little blue heron was also dining on a frog. I just hope the frogs stay on their side of the boundary!

It’s amazing what you see, if you just take the time to watch.

Here is a blurry photo of a Daddy Cardinal feeding his baby.

A close up of the red eye of the Yellow Crowned Night Heron. Taken with LC (little cannon) at full digital zoom.

Al got this shot of a male Cardinal also with LC at full digital zoom.

and a strange site coming up the bank.

A cute little Titmouse posing nicely for me. I really need to pick off those old dead leaves that are ruining my picture!

Yesterday was the first day of the 6 month long hurricane season, and of course there is something interesting forming down south.

The weather forecasters are watching a weather mass that will probably bring some tropical weather up here by the middle of next week.

They aren’t predicting it to become a hurricane, and don’t expect much except for some rain. However, they do think it will come our way. My experience with tropical systems is that the forecasters are pretty good about predicting where they will go, but not so good at predicting how strong they will be.

So……what do we do?

We were planning on leaving the area and heading south later this week anyway. South doesn’t appear to be our best choice now. We had already ruled out our beach camping at Red Coconuts Rv park because they are full and we couldn’t get a site the week we wanted. We were thinking of going back to Kissimmee Prairie, but now we’re thinking if we leave, we should get out of Florida.

I’m not too worried about the storm, but then again, you never know, and I would rather be safe than sorry.

I guess we’ll make a decision today or tomorrow. Last June, we were in the same situation and we waited too long to make the decision to leave and we were stuck here during tropical storm Debbie.

Even when we are at the apartment we are watching the weather but especially in the trailer nobody wants a rough ride.

I've learned from experience that if I have time to take a few shots on AF I will change to MF to clarify the shot. Unfortunately sometimes you only have seconds to do it or you forget to make the switch because you are so excited just seeing the subject. The next trick is remembering to switch back to AF so you don't smuck up the next few pictures. Be Safe and Enjoy!

I am just loving all that you see from your patio at Quail Run. Amazing! I wish I'd have seen even 25% of this on my morning runs. Are you two still walking around in the mornings? Your pictures are terrific. How is the business sale going? I'm excited for Al, for you both.

Amazing what you can see in a backyard if you just look. LC is a good camera. Love the daddy cardinal shot. Thought of you today when we saw a "Red Fox Crossing" sign. It was right after the "Bear Crossing".

Eldy is getting all nervous about the hurricane season. I guess he better get used to it as we aren't leaving yet! Some big rain is coming like you said. Six to twelve inches is what they are saying. Could get up to ten inches total...yikes! Hope we don't float away in the rig! :-)

Fabulous photos - you really got some great shots! (As usual.) It looks like you're enjoying the new camera. The area there has so much to see, like you said, if you just slow down and look around. I always enjoy your posts with your beautiful pictures. :)